Scattered thoughts

I guess it's not unusual for someone in their mid-fifties to have a love/hate relationship with the Internet. I adore the swiftness of the myth-busting research and the fantastic connections I make through the various online networks, such as mywomanownedbusiness.com and linkedin.com, for example. But the time! It takes so much time to fill out yet another form, provide the same bits of info here, there, and everywhere. And when it comes to revamping my own website .... oy, the very thought makes me tired all over.

And yet I did it. Just this last week, I revamped my personal website in anticipation of our company putting up its new, tech-oriented website.

I'm glad I'm not a web designer. No matter what the thing looks like, somebody always thinks it should look better, or at least different. Bad enough I have to come up with the content -- which someone always thinks should read better, or at least different. And the meta tags! And the keyword stuffing! What comes naturally to twentysomethings is a real p.i.t.a. to fiftysomethings -- even someone like me, who started using computers back in the 1970s.

My first introduction to computers was back in 1971 at the Orange City News, where I used a photon computer to create the type that was then cut and pasted into print columns. Hmmm ... guess I've been in the word business longer than I realized.

My next foray into computers was on a temp job, where the boss needed someone who understood basic word processing. I lied and said I could, then figured it out OJT. Who was going to contradict me? Nobody else knew what they were doing, either! I forget the name of that original program, but I think it started with a D.

I've been word processing through one program or another ever since. Thought Word Perfect would conquer the business community, but Bill Gates had a much better sales force.

It wasn't until I'd written my first book, For Musicians Only, on an electric typewriter that I got a personal computer, a gift from my dad who worked for AT&T and had an "extra" that fell off the back of the office truck. Dad kept me supplied with computers over the years until the price and my income figured out a way to meet each other. Then again, the machine I have now was generously provided by my mom. I've never managed to get ahead of the curve on some things.

All of which brings us back to today's computing environment, in which I find myself dabbling in graphics and formats and bookkeeping and forms and computer languages and myriad other matters that never even existed back when I was in my mid-twenties. In fact, they probably didn't, then. And like a good Marine, I've adapted. I've improvised, I've overcome. But when the time comes to recreate my website, I still go slightly nuts.

Make it chunky. Not too chunky. Be personal. But stay business professional. Include your fees, don't include your fees. Give them something to read; make them pay to read what you've got. Make it a loooonnnng, keyword-repetitive page. Keep it short and pithy. Multiple pages. One page. Use pdf. Don't use pdf. (PDF. Half a decade ago, it was mysterious, intricate, and expensive. Now, heck, you can convert anything into a pdf format online for pittance.) Throw in audio. Naw; audio garbages up the site. Include a PowerPoint presentation (don't you love PowerPoint? The best thing anyone's ever invented!). Nope -- takes too long to load. Use big fonts, lots of color. No, no, no, keep the fonts small and clean. Just get it done, it's so simple!

And so, it's done. It was deceptively simple in a complex, head-meets-wall kind of way. Unless I go back and fiddle with it some more -- which I cannot guarantee I won't since WS_FTP makes it so easy -- my new site is up and ready for demolishing.

That's right. As soon as the twentysomething WambGeeks put up the new Wambtac site, my little personal URL will merely point there, and all my efforts will have been for naught.

But it made me feel good. I may be fiftysomething, but I can still be taught, as Aladdin's genie would say. Okay, so I used a couple pdfs. And I kept it tight and pithy, not looonnng and keyword repetitive because, well, I'm fiftysomething and those long, say-nothing-over-and-over sites just bore me to tears. Yet I know they're effective! Why? Good grief, because they're keyword repetitive! And if I were twentysomething or, even better, thirtysomething, I'd punt my discomfort and just go with the trend. But I'm fiftysomething and old school (can there be "old school" on the web? What does that mean: ideas that are from, wow, over four weeks ago?), not to mention stubborn.

So okay, I guess I need feedback. Should I go with what I have now, or should I write something looonnng and keyword repetitive? Your call. But I need your answer quickly, before it becomes a moot issue. Before my individuality gets blended into the common pot, before I become "one of" instead of "me, alone." The good of the many outweighs the good of the one, blah, blah, blah. Before the business-speak/consistency experts denude my public persona of all Claudia Suzanne quirkiness.

That'll be a good thing, right?